IN THE NEWS | 14 May 2017

OWON: The world is under Global Cyber attack by a Ransom Worm, which has shut down not only Banks, but even central records of nations Hospital Systems.It needs a NSA level of capability exploit of Windows to achieve this - thanks NSA...The world now needs a Global Cyber Crime Police network, and one able to deal out death sentences on detection.This is a worm and can effect anyone through Windows WITHOUT user initialization. Microsoft has patched its operating systems to negate this exploit so please make sure your system(s) are up to date with Window's most recent updates. Force Windows to search for most recent updates to be sure you are protected.

Wcry uses weapons-grade exploit published by the NSA-leaking Shadow Brokers.

A highly virulent new strain of self-replicating ransomware shut down computers all over the world, in part by appropriating a National Security Agency exploit that was publicly released last month by the mysterious group calling itself Shadow Brokers.

The malware, known as Wanna, Wannacry, or Wcry, has infected at least 75,000 computers, according to antivirus provider Avast. AV provider Kaspersky Lab said organizations in at least 74 countries have been affected, with Russia being disproportionately affected, followed by Ukraine, India, and Taiwan. Infections are also spreading through the United States. The malware is notable for its multi-lingual ransom demands, which support more than two-dozen languages.

Wcry is reportedly causing disruptions at banks, hospitals, telecommunications services, train stations, and other mission-critical organizations in multiple countries, including the UK, Spain, Germany, and Turkey. FedEx, the UK government's National Health Service, and Spanish telecom Telefonica have all been hit. The Spanish CERT has called it a "massive ransomware attack" that is encrypting all the files of entire networks and spreading laterally through organizations.

The virally spreading worm was ultimately stopped when a researcher who uses the Twitter handle MalwareTech and works for security firm Kryptos Logic took control of a domain name that was hard-coded into the self-replicating exploit. The domain registration, which occurred around 6 AM California time, was a major stroke of good luck, because it was possible only because the attackers had failed to obtain the address first.

The address appeared to serve as a sort of kill switch the attackers could use to terminate the campaign. MalwareTech's registration had the effect of ending the attacks that had started earlier Friday morning in other parts of the world. As a result, the number of infection detections plateaued dramatically in the hours following the registration. It had no effect on WCry infections that were initiated through earlier campaigns.

The chancellor, Philip Hammond, has called for closer economic ties with China as Britain enters a new, post-Brexit era.

Speaking at the start of a summit in Beijing celebrating President Xi Jinping’s “Belt and Road initiative”, Hammond heaped praise on his hosts and said Britain was a “natural partner” for Beijing as it pushed ahead with a massive infrastructure campaign some call the most ambitious in history.

“China and the UK have a long and rich trading history. Indeed, the English first attempted to find a trade route to China in the 16th century although it took us four decades to find one,” Hammond told the opening session of the two-day forum.

“I welcome the ‘Belt and Road initiative’ as an opportunity to strengthen these ties and I welcome the progress that has already been made.”

Relations between London and Beijing soured after Theresa May became prime minister in July and ordered a review of the controversial China-backed Hinkley Point C plant. That decision cast doubt on what had previously been cast as a “golden age” of ties under her predecessor David Cameron and former chancellor George Osborne. But the relationship appeared to recover after the £18bn project was approved.

On Sunday Hammond hailed China’s ability to drive “phenomenal economic development” and success in “lifting” 800 million Chinese citizens out of poverty over the past four decades. “Since 1980 the Chinese economy has grown by over 2,500%. This year, it is expected to account for a quarter of total global economic growth,” he told an audience of world leaders including Russian president Vladimir Putin, and Turkey’s Recep Erdoğan.

Britain now hoped to benefit from that growth as it charted its post-Brexit course, the chancellor added. “As we embark on a new chapter in our history, as we leave the European Union, we want to maintain a close and open trading partnership with our European neighbours and at the same time pursue our ambition to secure free trade agreements around the world with new partners and old allies alike.”...

Doctors have highlighted the need for awareness of anisakiasis, caused by the larvae of a worm found in contaminated undercooked or raw fish or seafood.

From nigiri to temaki, sushi has boomed in popularity in the west, but now doctors are warning of a less appetising trend: a rise in parasitic infections.

A team of doctors from Portugal raised concerns after a 32-year old man was admitted to hospital complaining of pain in his abdomen just below his ribs, vomiting and had a slight fever, all of which had lasted for a week.

An endoscopy soon revealed the culprit: the larvae of a type of parasitic worm from the genus Anisakis. The doctors note that the condition, known as anisakiasis, is caused by eating undercooked or raw fish or seafood that has been contaminated: indeed, questioning of the patient revealed that he had recently eaten sushi.

After the larva was removed the man rapidly recovered, say the medics.

Writing in the journal BMJ Case reports, the team warn that with sushi in vogue in the west, awareness of anisakiasis is growing.

“Most of the cases were described in Japan due to food habits; however, it has been increasingly recognised in western countries,” the authors write, pointing to a Spanish study that reported 25 cases of the condition over a three year period from 1999 to 2002, with all patients having eating raw anchovies, as well as Italian research which flagged both anchovies and sushi as routes by which individuals could become infected.

The Italian study added that medical professionals should suspect the condition should patients complain of severe abdominal pain after eating raw fish, pointing out that “no effective pharmacological treatment is able to kill the larvae once eaten”.

Brussels could be forced to pay Britain a Brexit divorce bill because the UK's share of EU assets is so valuable, Boris Johnson claims.

The Foreign Secretary also accused the EU of trying to "bleed this country white" with an expected bill of £84 billion to settle liabilities on withdrawal.

Asked whether Mr Johnson agreed with former Conservative leader Iain Duncan Smith that Britain might end up receiving a payment, Mr Johnson told the Daily Telegraph: "I do, I think there are very good arguments.

"There are assets, I don't want to get too much into the detail of the negotiation but there are assets that we share, that we have paid for over the years and there will need to be a proper computation of the value of those assets.

"I certainly think the bill that's been presented at the moment is absurd."

Mr Johnson said the "shameful" leaking of details of a Downing Street meeting between Prime Minister Theresa May and European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker showed "Brussels is ruthless in its negotiating techniques, they are going to play dirty, we have got to be very wary and intellectually very firm".

Accusing the EU of "trying it on", he said: "They are going to try to bleed this country white with their bill...

China is one of the few countries in the world today with money to spend, and Xi Jinping is ready to write some cheques.

China's President will host almost 30 world leaders in Beijing on Sunday at the first Belt and Road Forum, the centrepiece of a soft-power push backed by hundreds of billions of dollars for infrastructure projects. More than 100 countries on five continents have signed up, showing the demand for global economic cooperation despite rising protectionism in the US and Europe.

For Xi, the initiative is designed to solidify his image as one of the world's leading advocates of globalisation while US President Donald Trump cuts overseas funds in the name of "America First". The summit aims to ease concerns about China's rise and boost Xi's profile at home, where he's become the most powerful leader since Deng Xiaoping died in 1997.

The Belt and Road Initiative "will likely be Xi's most lasting legacy", said Trey McArver, the London-based director of China research for TS Lombard, an investment research company. "It has the potential to remake global - particularly Asian - trade and economic patterns."...

Britain is facing an “shocking” stroke epidemic as bulging waistlines take their toll, a major report by Kings College London has found.

The study of 35 countries warns that within two decades, the number of strokes is set to rise by 44 per cent - far above the average across Europe.

The UK already has the sixth highest number of strokes in Europe, with among the highest cholesterol levels.

Cardiac experts last night warned that soaring obesity levels are fueling heart problems, and said simple lifestyle changes could greatly reduce the risk of strokes.

The research shows that on current trends, the number of strokes in the UK will rise by 44 per cent by 2035 - compared with a European average of 34 per cent.

Britain is expected to see the largest increase in stroke survivors, amid warnings of “alarming” variations in levels of basic care available.

The Stroke Association said services would fall under increasing strain as the population gets older. But they said heart problems were not an inevitable result of ageing, urging the public to do more to tackle unhealthy lifestyles...

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden warned that using cloud services from Amazon, Google, and Microsoft may be convenient, but that it comes at a high price in terms of lack of visibility and control over what those cloud providers are doing on the back end.

"You're giving them your data and giving up control," he told attendees of the OpenStack Summit 2017 in Boston on Tuesday via a satellite link, ostensibly from Russia where he is in exile.

Public clouds like AWS are increasingly used by businesses that don't want to build more of their own data centers, saving on upfront costs and headaches.

Cloud vendors typically say they cannot see or access encrypted user data. But the fact remains that public cloud is all about customers running their operations on hardware and software managed by another company, and that gives Snowden pause...

The White House has claimed FBI director James Comey was fired for the controversial timing of a probe into Hillary Clinton's emails amid speculation it was actually a bid to cover up the president's links to Russia.

On Tuesday, Donald Trump fired the bureau's head honcho - the man who led the agency charged with investigating his campaign's ties with Russia - in a move that sent shockwaves through Washington.

The surprise dismissal of Comey, who played a huge role in last year's presidential election by relaunching the investigation into Clinton's email scandal 11 days before the vote, came as he was leading a probe into whether Trump's aides colluded with Moscow to sway the November 8 vote.

The official line on the dismissal - according to a memo from Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein which was circulated by the White House - was for mishandling the probe into presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's emails days before the election in November.

But it took the Democrats an hour to claim it was a cover-up, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying it was a 'big mistake'...